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Made in the Dark is a great album, varied and surprisingly heartfelt.
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Hot Chip boldly expand and louden up their sound significantly here, while admirably retaining full command of the forms they've already mastered.
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This is evidence of a group that has really come into their own and while they were at it, refined their skills. It’s to the point that I feel this album is head and shoulders above any of their erstwhile releases.
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Alternative PressDark is one of the first great records of 2008. [Mar 2008, p.146]
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But what makes Made In the Dark their best album to date is how great the ballads are, a trick no mere techno act was supposed to master.
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FilterDark isn't a huge departure from the previous record, and it doesn't mark some major step in Hot Chip's evolution either. But there's something to be said for holding your liquor, keeping momentum, and showing the world that this whole ride is as wicked-fun as you thought it would be. [Winter 2008, p.92]
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As a listener, it’s equally hard not to feel the love. With Hot Chip, it now feels like the right time to commit.
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In almost every respect, Made In The Dark is an immaculately poised record, the poptronica super geeks at last striking the perfect balance between head and heart.
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Made is at once more adventurous and more accessible, with a greater respect for straightforward(ish) pop.
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Perhaps Made in the Dark's greatest achievement is to keep back a bit of mystery for itself above and beyond the enveloping sense of destiny fulfilled.
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'Wrestlers' epitomizes what makes this quintet the sharpest dance rockers this side of their pals LCD Soundsystem: catchy tunes, monster grooves, and lyrics resolving the heartfelt and the smartass.
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UrbHot Chip hasve always guaranteed a certain degree of respect for the listener's intelligence, even on their most fance floor ready album yet. [Jan/Feb 2008, p.102]
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On Made in the Dark, Hot Chip has stopped trying so hard to integrate the dance and bedroom sounds it loves, instead segregating them to eliminate the compromises of the ?rst two albums.
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This is the same pop-wise Hot Chip, only wilier and with a more dastardly sonic arsenal.
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This is some serious whimsy. [Feb 2008, p.92]
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They're still a quirky band, no doubt, but now they're using those quirks to make their most accomplished album to date.
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Made in the Dark announces its intent early: it's straight electro, with a naked disdain for the minor key.
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Even as they cherry-pick from seemingly incongruous sources (deep house, hard rock, smooth R&B), there’s a newfound decisiveness, a move toward heavier beats, meatier grooves and warmer sentiments.
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VibeThey grab hold of genres long stuck in straitjackets and, if only for a few minutes a pop, let them run amok. [Mar 2008, p.99]
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This album stands out because of its stadium-worthy aspirations.
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Q MagazineFor the most part, Made In The Dark pulses with an unusual intelligence and creative bravery. [Mar 2008, p.101]
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On its third album, the Londoners struggle a bit to escape the cold climate of the digital domain, but the band does manage to get the molecules agitated.
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From the unguarded yelps and wiggling drums that mark its first track, Made In The Dark sounds more forceful and lithe than anything in Hot Chip's past.
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At their best--during the disc’s torch-lit forays inward, the piano-ballad title track and the forlorn 'We’re Looking for a Lot of Love'--Hot Chip get serious, delving into the up-late tangles and riddles of the 21st-century heart.
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Made In The Dark must rank as something of a missed opportunity, but as a bigger, bolder (if overlong) follow-up to a deservedly popular second album, they’ve succeeded admirably.
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Whilst this isn't the album many may have expected, it should match their hopes in a different and, ultimately, fulfilling way.
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Though it may hardly win over detractors, there's not much of Made in the Dark that can be lambasted as puckish or precious.
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Good record but not a great one.
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They're very much of their time--friendly indie kids from the Go! Team to Hot Hot Heat are cheerily dabbling in dance music nowadays--and much better than most of those peers.
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Amid such hi-octane dancefloor tracks such as this, current single 'Ready For The Floor' is, in context, pedestrian--its uncomfortable resemblance to Russ Abbot's 'Atmosphere' becoming more apparent with every listen.
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Hot Chip sound like such a broad swath of pop music on this album that you can’t quite call them out for biting any single obnoxious influence too much, even when they do get so hyperactive it’s annoying.
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So Hot Chip have built a very admirable sound. What confuses the issue with Made in the Dark is that it presents so many glaring kinks that still need working out.
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Entertainment WeeklyHot Chip's signature balmy synths and daydream-dizzy vocals are still body-moving, but less heart-stirring. [8 Feb 2008, p.68]
User score distribution:
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Positive: 34 out of 41
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Mixed: 6 out of 41
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Negative: 1 out of 41
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NeilLMar 16, 2009
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AidanKMay 10, 2008
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JasonWApr 19, 2008